5 Common Mistakes in Contract Writing and How to Avoid Them
What are some common mistakes in contract writing?
- Sounding too vague, general, or complicated
- Not authenticating signatures
- Rushing through the process
- Not keeping track of revisions
- Not consulting an attorney
It can be tough to write up a contract from scratch, especially if you are doing it for the first time. If you are not careful, you might end up making some of these common mistakes. Not to worry – we have got some tips on how to avoid these mistakes and some tools for making your contract drafting process even easier. If you are just getting started, our guide on writing a business contract walks through the fundamentals step by step. Here are some common contract writing mistakes, and how to solve them:
Sounding Too Vague, General, or Complicated
If your writing has a lot of errors, room for miscommunication, or too much legalese, you can expect to confuse the parties involved. Unfortunately, space for confusion is also space for mistakes or, worse, incidents with ill intent.
A good rule of thumb when writing up contracts is to be specific. Be as detailed as you can, especially in cases where the details will matter most: when discussing who is involved and under what parameters the contract takes place, any limits to the stipulations, and what happens if the terms are not followed.
Keep the heavy legal terms at a minimum when writing your first draft, and let your lawyer put the necessary ones in during your next or final drafting. It is alright to refer to your clause checklist for common legal terms, but do not overfill your contract with terms your parties will not understand. Not only will it make the contract confusing, but it might even intimidate your parties so that they will choose not to sign.
Rushing Through the Process
Writing up a contract takes a long time, and negotiations can take even longer. Just because you have invested the time to make stipulations as clear as possible does not mean you can skip time on other things like doing your research, accounting for fortuitous events, or consulting a lawyer (which we will discuss further later on).
Basically, if a contract is not ready or you have doubts about some sections, do not send it out and hope for the best. If the other party is observant enough, they will surely pick up on the areas of doubt in your contract and contest these, or even refuse your contract altogether. You do not want to lose them just because you were not careful or patient enough.
Not Keeping Track of Revisions
It might feel a bit tedious to keep track of all the revisions your contract goes through, especially for a digital document that multiple people are editing or have access to, but we cannot stress enough how important that is. Losing track of revisions leaves room for error, changes made after the document is signed, or accusations of the same.
Use a solution that can keep track of all the changes or actions made to your document as well as the date and time those changes or actions were made, so you have a record of all the versions your contract goes through.
Not only that, if changes are made to the stipulations after a contract is signed, the e-signatures on that contract are automatically invalidated. That reduces the risk of someone getting a hold of your contract and making changes to it after it has already been agreed upon.
Not Authenticating Electronic Signatures
Unless your signatory is personally signing the contract right in front of you, how can you be 100% sure it is their signature on the page? Unfortunately, if you are relying on a standard electronic signature – that is, if you asked them to print it out, sign it, scan it, and then send it back to you (or some variation of the process) – you cannot fully authenticate a signature.
Fortunately, the solution to this issue is straightforward. NotarialOS secures e-signatures with advanced cryptographic technology that accurately determines and verifies the signatory’s identity. E-signatures are encrypted in such a way that they can only be decoded by a specific key assigned to the signatory. These security measures ensure that your contracts are being signed by the right people and the document is tamper-proof after both parties have signed. For a deeper look at how this technology prevents disputes, read about mitigating contract disputes with tamper-proof digital signatures.
Not Consulting an Attorney
Finally, it is very important to remember that you are not an expert on contract law, so it is best to talk to someone who is. At the very least, have all your contracts assessed or checked by a lawyer, if you will not have one write up your template from scratch. This way, you know that the terms you are proposing are not just fair to both parties involved, but advantageous. That will also mean the parties will be more likely to sign, simply because they know the terms are mutually and equally beneficial.
Key Takeaway
We have discussed some common contract writing mistakes as well as how to remedy them during the process of drafting up your contracts. Legal teams managing contracts at scale face their own set of challenges—our post on mistakes legal teams make with contracts covers the organizational pitfalls to watch out for. With this information and the added security granted to you by NotarialOS, we know you will be writing up better contracts in no time.
Visit notarialos.com to learn more about how NotarialOS can help secure your contract signing process.